Our Huddled Masses

 

Our Huddled Masses

a prologue by Pat Condie Bak

By the time the general population became aware of the new super bacteria, the reactionary responses of prominent medical doctors and renowned scientists from all over the world had already escalated from curiosity to concern, to worry, to fear, and finally, to panic. Inevitable leaks of the frightening new discovery first trickled out, then flowed in torrents from the countless fissures in top secret documents. As soon as the inevitable consequences of the new Bacillus fasilmeria became clear, Earth’s inhabitants collectively wailed and plunged headlong into a universal hell.

Because of the unprecedented robust nature of this proficient killer, familiar apocalyptic scenes of B grade movies were replicated throughout the real world in frenzied, fast-forward time. First came the inevitable looting: electronics, then food and finally, any type of protective paraphernalia imaginable: from useless face masks, to surplus World War II parts and pieces and on to government issued state-of-the-art Ebola gear stockpiled in inefficiently secured facilities. What quickly followed those days of mayhem and ruthless anarchy was a quiet settling-of-the-dust atmosphere in which most hapless citizens of every country merely walked, trance-like, over decaying bodies in search of a crust of bread.

In just five weeks after Dr. Kumar Banerjee’s first wide-eyed, jaw-dropping scrutiny of the extraordinary bacteria, over seventy million people had succumbed to the terror, and the daily death count grew exponentially. A small number of intellectuals who had stayed one step ahead of the ever-growing carnage labored on several continents in a desperate attempt to understand this destroying angel. Their determination paid off as these exhausted men and women uncovered the one vulnerability of the bacteria: persistent, torturous cold.

 And thus it is that our determination to insure the survival of the human race has led us to seek sanctuary at the frozen poles or atop towering, ice-crusted mountains. In diverse locations throughout the world, small clusters of huddled masses have been brought together by fear and grief.  It is in this bitter frozen stillness that we few survivors are finding salvation. The forced abandonment of all mankind’s superfluous trappings has compelled us to rediscover our humanity